WP8: Empowering economic development Poland and Ukraine

Objective
The main objective of this work package is to continue the influence of the GEONetCab project on the creation of conditions for sustainable economic development through increased use of Earth observation applications in Poland and to expand the influence outreach to Ukraine. The other objectives include:

To build capacity of EO on individual and institutional level;

To promote the increased use of EO products and services for environmental and related applications;

To upgrade the portfolio of EO applications for economic development and environmental management in Poland and Ukraine;

To integrate the EO community in Poland and Ukraine and create an integrated source of information about EO resources, capacity building opportunities and for exchange of experiences for stakeholders;

To promote participation of Poland in GEO and GEOSS.

Task T8.1 - Roadshow activities to promote the increased use of EO products and services for environmental applications.
Following the good experiences of the GEONetCab project, which showed that face-to-face contact with the stakeholders has the biggest impact on changing of the attitudes and improved knowledge and understanding, this task will be devoted to all promotional activities among stakeholders. The activities include participation in events such as festivals of science (target group: youths and their parents, non-professionals), conferences related to parallel topics (target group: professionals from environmental sector), events for policy makers and SMEs related to sustainable economic development, environmental protection etc.

Task T8.2 - Creation of a dedicated website in Polish and English, providing a space for an integrated source of information on EO topics for stakeholders.
The website will be based on the results coming from GEONetCab output (success stories, Polish regional report about inventory of the current situation, identification of opportunities and bottlenecks) and will be improved by other information that we’ve found to be of the big interest among stakeholders :

EO related calls for project proposals, with the focus on Polish-Ukrainian cooperation,

EO related events in Poland and Ukraine,

Practical examples of use of EO applications (including success stories from GEONetCab),

Links to capacity building resources, e.g. from GEO,

EOPOWER project quick wins, meetings etc.

The website will be also a link to the GEONetCab resource portal, which will be promoted to stakeholders in its final version. It will also be integrated with the Snow Cover Portal with the daily information about the amount of snow in Poland based on EO. This was a result of the GEONetCab project and gained a big popularity, thanks to its practical application.

Task T8.3 - Upgrade of the database of Polish EO stakeholders and creation of the list of Ukrainian stakeholders (research institutions, universities, data providers)
The reality in the EO sector in Poland is changing very quickly. First of all, it’s connected with the economic development in the country and secondly, with Poland joining the European Space Agency there is increased interest in the topic (especially by the companies). The floods in Poland in 2010 and successful support to crisis management by satellite applications (through the SAFER project) made many people realise that up-to-date geospatial information is necessary to make right decisions in due time. Participation of the GEONetCab team in the EU Carpathex 2011 exercise for firemen and crisis management community as a preparation for the European Championships in Football organized by Poland and Ukraine in 2012, expanded the stakeholders group as well. This window of opportunity caused the GEONetCab project to focus on the crisis management community. The aim of the EOPOWER project is to expand it to environmental stakeholders that could use remote sensing in their work.

Task T8.4 - Networking with the Polish and Ukrainian EO community and stakeholders
The networking activities in the field of EO will be continued on the domestic Polish market (at conferences and related events, dedicated meetings and through online communication). The networking activities are planned to expand to Ukraine. Meetings are planned each year of project implementation with the aim to exchange experiences and present the best practices of EO and plan potential future common projects and activities.
Stakeholders and end- users from the environmental protection sector: POLAND

Non-professionals:

Schools - youths and teachers (Cooperation with UNEP-GRID in GLOBE Programme by preparing the educational materials and leading the workshops),

Agriculture authorities (e.g. Institute of Technology and Life Sciences),

NGOs (e.g. WWF, Social Ecological Institute).

UKRAINE

Ukrainian Land and Resource Management Centre,

National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (e.g. Radio-environmental Centre, Oceanographic Centre, Centre for Aerospace Research of the Earth, Institute of Geological Sciences, Centre for Management and Marketing in Earth Sciences, National Space Agency of Ukraine Space Research Institute).